Cases studies

The case of the 2008 Kenya Consumer Survey of the French Market and its impact on their 2008/2009 action plan.

• Services : Consumer Promotion - Market Intelligence

Brief

During the Kenyan political crisis in January 2008, violent riots occurred in major Kenyan cities, greatly shocking worldwide public opinion. France was among the most affected outbound markets: January to June 2008 saw a 75% drop in French tourists to Kenya (compared to January to June 2007).

Once political stability was reinstated and trade confidence & sales activities renewed, it was essential to have and to benefit from an accurate impression of the perception of Kenya amongst French consumers.

Tactics

Interface Tourism, which has represented the Kenya Tourist Board in France since 2004, requested proposals from French Investigation Institutions, with a view to carrying out a consumer image & perception study of the destination.

The key objectives of the image & perception survey were as follows:

• Measure Kenya’s reputation and image in and the purchasing intentions of the French market
• Define an appropriate recovery strategy for Kenya in the French market for 2008/2009
• Adapt Kenya’s message and communication plan to French market expectations

In July 2008, Group TNS Sofres was selected to carry out the Kenya Image & Perception Survey for Kenya Tourist Board. The Methodology chosen was a one week online consumer survey of a representative panel of over 1,000.

Result

The Kenya Image & Perception Survey revealed the following interesting points:

• The majority of those surveyed did not remember the January 2008 event. 2/3 of those who did remember the riots knew the situation has been solved or was being solved.
• 80% of those surveyed spontaneously quoted Kenya as THE safari destination (very far ahead of South Africa and Tanzania)
• The majority of comments about Kenya were positive. 80 % considered Kenya as an attractive destination (for the diversity of its landscape, its authenticity, the discovery of its culture…)

These interesting results demonstrated that the French did not worry about the earlier political crisis in Kenya (hence there was no specific need to reassure them). It also made clear that the French still had a very positive image of Kenya and found the destination attractive.

So why were we not seeing any increase in French visitors to Kenya?

Interface Tourism came to the conclusion that the French had indeed forgotten about the Kenyan crisis, but that they had also forgotten about Kenya.
The key strategic challenge was therefore to replace Kenya as a “Top of Mind” destination, reminding consumers of all the destination's good points and convincing them that all they liked about Kenya was still available and more than ever within their reach!

The Action Plan was thereby adapted to the true expectations of the French market with regard to Kenya:

• B2C marketing tools were completely rebranded (eco-friendly brochures, destination website, new posters design…): new design and content ensured that the focus was placed firmly on the destination’s assets - as listed by the consumers during the survey: rich wildlife, diverse landscape, the discovery of its culture….
• High B2C awareness activities were implemented, to situate Kenya as a “Top of Mind” destination: a TV travel show filmed in Kenya (December 2008), an online consumer campaign on leading news websites (January 2009) and commercial travel websites (May 2009)